May 16, 2016

The following message arrived in my laptop's inbox. Although there are three computers in this house being served by Optimum, only the one computer got this message, not the other two.

Because two computers did not get this message, I contacted Optimum to see if this is real and found out that it is. No explanation was available however about the incomplete dissemination of this notice.

May 15, 2016

The purpose of this letter is to describe a possible way to reduce drought and wildfires in targeted locations. This should not be interpreted as an excuse to relax efforts to reduce greenhouse gasses, pollution, or resource waste. Solar energy is used in communities along the Rio Grande to distill drinking water from polluted water available to the people. Solar stills are suitable for families and small communities. Their performance is limited by the necessity to evaporate supplied water, condense the water vapor, and recover the condensate in the same apparatus. What I propose is a large scale apparatus to evaporate water from oceans, bays, lakes, and rivers. Evaporator performance is not compromised by attempting to recover the water vapor. Instead it is released into the atmosphere to produce rain or humidity, depending on the location. High water surface temperature is required to make water molecules sufficiently energetic to enter the atmosphere as water vapor. Sunlight is absorbed by unmodified water bodies, but it usually penetrates to great depth. The solar energy is absorbed by a large volume of water, resulting in a negligible temperature rise and little water vapor released into the atmosphere.

My remedy for this problem is a raft composed of many black-painted wooden panels, each about 18 inches by 8 inches, with their top surfaces floating just below the water surface. Solar energy is absorbed by the black surface and heats the thin layer of water above the absorber, resulting in a large temperature rise and a useful rate of evaporation. A wooden cross piece fastened across the absorber plate at each end protrudes above the water surface. These cross pieces control the floating depth. If some force pushes downward on the raft, the cross pieces displace more water and resist the tendency to sink. The raft can be oriented so that the cross pieces block cold water from flowing over the solar absorber. This is important when rafts are placed in rapidly flowing rivers and streams.

River locations such as the Twisp and Methow in Washington State would probably not produce rainfall from the water vapor. If the water vapor is carried into the surrounding vegetation by the prevailing winds, it would supply humidity that would decrease the incidence and severity of wildfires. Firefighters were killed in this area. I am able to calculate the rate of evaporation for rafts in these river locations, but I need to study the wind regime to know where the water vapor will go.

For evaporator rafts located in San Francisco Bay, it is certain that the water vapor will follow the prevailing winds in summer, going east and then turning southeast to follow the San Joaquin Valley down to the Mojave and Sonoran deserts to replace air that is heated and rising from the desert. The temperature inversion layer over the bay area in summer and the high wind speed make rainfall unlikely. The benefit will be from the water vapor reducing the desiccation of the soil and vegetation. Much study and calculation lies ahead to justify evaporator rafts in San Francisco Bay.

Evaporator raft location in the Arabian Sea off the Indian coast near Bombay could enhance rainfall in the summer monsoon by supplying water vapor to the wind coming from the southwest. This air rises up the western Ghatt mountains, expands, cools, and moisture condenses to make rain. The plains inland fom the coastal Ghatts are suffering severe drought. The aquifers have been almost pumped out and arsenic contaminates the water. Evaporator raft location in the open sea requires protection from wave action. I have been looking at floating breakwater design, perhaps suitably spaced rings of logs surrounding the rafts.

The reader will note that every aspect of my work is incomplete. Help is needed to advance these ideas.

May 09, 2016

We were walking through one of the area's pubic gardens the other day when I noticed this device that can serve as part of a bird house or a bird feeder installation. I thought this thing was quite clever!

If a squirrel tries to climb the pole from below, it ends up going inside the hollow pipe to where it can't get up any further past the top seal. If it tries to climb up along the outer surface of the pipe, its limbs won't be long enough to secure a grip on the smooth metal surface.

Of course, we all know that any squirrel worth its fur is more cunning than any homo sapiens, yet this seemed like a really clever idea.

This pipe is totally passive. It uses no batteries and it has no moving parts unlike some of those fancy whirling anti-squirrel gizmos I've seen for sale at garden supply stores. This thing doesn't advertise that it can throw an intruding squirrel into a free fall to the ground.

Of course, it this is placed too close to a tree, a squirrel could probably jump from that tree to the pole above the hollow pipe, but with some thought as to proper "location, location, location", this might work quite well.

May 06, 2016

There is a security risk that arises from leaving the possibility of someone being able to read critical information through the paper of an envelope in which a check has been enclosed.

This example shows a utility bill envelope.

When I pay a bill like this, I always face the inserted check with its printed side concealed from outside view as shown below.

I suppose that the obstructive paper sheet that I've shown here isn't necessary if a payment stub is used because that payment stub will obstruct an external view of the check quite nicely. However, it there isn't any stub, I consider the obstructive sheet to be mandatory.

In either case though, I always face the printed side of the check away from prying eyes.

I once heard someone speak about doing metal work on a lathe. This fellow mentioned a phenomenon called "galling" of which I hadn't heard so I asked what that word meant. The answer was that galling is the undesirable production of nearly spherical metal particles from the cutting bit's action on the moving metal's surface.

The word has other meanings too though. Galls are also growths on a tree. Some are nearly spherical and they can profoundly distort the tree's overall shape as in this photograph.

Tree galls can arise from various sources of inflammation such as certain insects or viral infections but so far as anyone has ever told me, when tree galls develop, that's that and they aren't going to go away.

Other meanings of the word such as impudence, effrontery, bitterness of spirit, bile and rancor can be left to the social scientists and biochemists.